Chelsea have completed the sale of Angelo Gabriel to Al Nassr in the Saudi Pro League.
It’s a transfer which sums up the modern game, and Chelsea’s new model in particular – the 19 year old arrived from Brazil a year ago, was sent out on loan to our affiliate club Strasbourg for the season, and now moves to Saudi Arabia without ever having played a game for us.
Even more impressively we’ve managed to make a profit, at least on the raw transfer fee. The 19 year old signed for £13m from Santos last summer, and now moves on for £19.1m according to the BBC. To sweeten the deal further, the report also claims that we retain a sell on clause allowing us to profit further down the line.
With the window closed, Angelo was one of the players who looked likely to end up as a spare part, training with the remaining “bomb squad” at Cobham, so it’s good news all around that we’ve found him a move. Saudi interest in young players has stayed strong while their appetite for older and more expensive players has waned.
Proof that Gabriel could be bought and sold for a profit without playing a minute for Chelsea will be seen as vindication of this ownership’s player trading model.
The rock pool dries up
The Saudi window is now closed, but there are still a few players to move on and a few windows still open. With Gabriel gone, the number of high profile players still on our books but banished from the first team group is down to a handful.
Could Turkey or Greece be calling for Ben Chilwell and Cesare Casadei? Or will the group eventually be considered small enough to be reintegrated with their colleagues now there’s a solid 4 month wait until the majority of windows open up again?
